Culhwch

Hero of Culhwch and Olwen, a Welsh tale from the eleventh century or earlier. Culhwch was the son of Cilydd and Goleuddydd, Arthur’s aunt. His mother died while giving birth to him in the middle of a herd of pigs, and Culhwch’s name—“pig pen”—reflects the circumstances of this birth. His father remarried, and his stepmother commanded that Culhwch marry Olwen, daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden. Culhwch fell in love with her at the mere mention of her name.

Culhwch traveled to Arthur’s court at the height of its glory, and demanded his cousin’s assistance in finding Olwen. Arthur assigned Cei, Bedwyr, Cynddylig the Guide, Gwrhyr Interpreter of Languages, Gwalchmei, and Menw—the greatest of his warriors—to go with Culhwch to the fortress of Ysbaddaden. Upon arriving, the companions learned that Ysbaddaden was fated to die upon his daughter’s marriage, and that Olwen would not marry without her father’s permission.

Ysbaddaden tried to slay the party but was injured, so he consented to allow Olwen to marry Culhwch—if Culhwch would perform a list of forty tasks. The tasks involved obtaining magic artifacts from a plethora of fearsome monsters, obtaining the assistance of certain renowned warriors, tending to vast parcels of Ysbaddaden’s land in a short period of time, and a number of other impossible deeds. About half of them involved retrieving a set of shears and a comb from between the ears of Twrch Trwyth, an enchanted boar. Ysbaddaden placed numerous conditions on the hunt for Twrch Trwyth: certain warriors had to accompany the party, certain hounds had to be employed, certain leashes were needed to hold the hounds, certain warriors were needed to hold the leashes, and so on.

Culhwch agreed to accomplish all the tasks. He returned to Arthur’s court, invoked Arthur’s promise to help him, and sat back while Arthur and his men scrambled to meet all of Ysbaddaden’s requirements. Among the more interesting of the subsequent adventures are Arthur’s trip to Ireland to obtain a cauldron from Diwrnach, the slaying of the boar Ysgithyrwyn, the assault on the cave of the Black Hag, and the epic hunt for Twrch Trwyth.

Though the story only notes the completion of half of the tasks, Culhwch apparently satisfied all the requirements, because he returned to Ysbaddaden and demanded his prize. Ysbaddaden handed over Olwen, remarking bitterly that Culhwch would not have been able to complete even one of the tasks without the assistance of Arthur. Culhwch and Olwen lived together for the rest of their days.